A reverse engineering approach for the generation of dimensionally accurate 3-D CAD model

Includes bibliographical references (pages [89]-91)This document reports a reverse engineering method for the automatic generation of accurate 3-D CAD models for existing parts. A combination of non contact and contact part digitization approaches have been used. In this system the reverse engineering process is done in three steps. First a non contact device, machine vision, is used for obtaining digitized data from the part. Second the raw data is processed and a 3-D CAD model for the part is generated. In the third step the created 3-D CAD model is used for guiding a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) to capture accurate coordinate data from the feature points of the part. The data is then used to create a dimensionally accurate 3-D CAD model of the part.M.S. (Master of Science